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Just wait until it's the first all-female, all-enlisted, all one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater aircrew operating an RQ-4!

I don't understand the excitement over the Air Force having Enlisted do Officer jobs for Enlisted pay. You'd think the Enlisted Union would be up in arms about the lack of pay and incentives given to Enlisted aircrew vis a vis Officer aircrew. Nobody doubts the competency of Enlisted aircrew. But it certainly seems ironic that we bash the Air Force for not providing pilot pay commensurate with the civilian economy but we're celebrating the fact that the Air Force can get away with paying an E-4 half of what they would pay an O-4 to do the same job. This is the argument that goes through my head every time someone shouts "bring back Warrants!" We should demand that the Air Force pay incentives and bonuses something near the market wage for a particular skill. (edit to add: I'm not opposed to the enlisted RPA program)

So I received a call back from AFPC! - ~300 applicants with ~ 200 total slots - 50/50 split between Pilot/RPA & CSO/ABM - “Most everyone who received a slot got their first or second choice” (that’s the line that caught my attention) - No emails will be sent from the APFC side to those who didn’t get picked up, so we’ll all have to wait -Commander Notification will come out via AFPC Secure to FSS’s first thing Thursday Morning. It’s on the FSS to check Not sure if this is new or useful to any of y’all but just wanted to put it out there. Here’s to next Thursday!

Portal just updated, commanders will know 7 November, public release 15 Nov

“Operates” rq-4. operate may not be the correct word ...

I think that remains to be seen when a.) Their commitments are up and b.) If there is an availability of contractor positions for their skill set. I'm not sure about GH pilots but Reaper pilots with an LR background can pull as far north as tree fiddy. Hard for me to immagine someone on the enlisted pay scale bypassing that as a norm.

Lol, not at all. Any enlisted guys that want to be enlisted Global Hawk pilots, listen up. You’ll need a bachelors to be competitive in the selection process, so get that. Then, instead of applying for enlisted pilot, apply for OTS instead as a 11X, 12X, or 18X. Then you can go be a Global Hawk pilot for 2x the money. Or you can even fly something else if you want.

I've had the opportunity to listen to Kit Darby speak a few times. He has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the airlines.

We can't even retain maintainers. Can't imagine how much worse retention will be when guys have a six-figure job waiting on the outside.

To many enlisted dudes, sending their best qualified guys over to the officers’ team would be akin to a Democrat going to work for a Republican. They identify more with being enlisted than they do about being individuals with upward mobility.

Interview invites went out two weeks ago for Nola Eagles. Interviews are Saturday; good luck to the 6 we are interviewing.

Don’t forget the profit sharing and auto 401k contributions as well with those numbers. Big blue will never come close to those. Also they say we are over manned in the FGO’s I’d know how when all the O-4’s are running out the door just about.

100% concur - it's akin to hiring scab workers (not to denigrate the enlisted force ...or scab workers). If you're enlisted, and want to fly ...get your degree, and put your OTS application in. Don't do what officers do for much less.

If anything, those numbers are a little low ... at least for delta. Low for gross pay, about right to 5% high for take home ... and I’m not a striver nor hard worker (anyone who knows me will vouch).

My biggest complaint with the ACTF is the auto-reponse of "we can't compete with the airlines" when you mention pay. Nobody is asking that you compete with the airlines. Just pay more than what you are. Military members are generally hesitant, I believe, to say that pay is a causal factor in leaving because they don't want to appear un-patriotic. You join out of Pride, you stay because of Quality of Life/Job Satisfaction, and Compensation. You cannot disregard the Compensation aspect. The Air Force continues to cop out when they say that they simply can't compete with the airlines. I don't mind the initiatives to produce our way out of the aircrew crisis. But compensation has to continue to be on the table or people will continue to walk.

I wonder how many of those O-5s making us "over manned" took something like VLPAD. I know one O-5 who retired for a whole day to make himself eligible for the VLPAD program just so he could PCS.

lph1235, First of all, good on you for being as proactive as you are at such a young age. That will pay major dividends in your future. I believe having the surgery on your record does require a waiver, but is given so long as you meet certain eye alignment criteria. You can read up on these things in the Air Force Waiver Guide 2017. My advice to you is to get an updated evaluation done by an ophthalmologist who specializes in this surgery (mostly pediatric doctors) and make them give you every test they can, see what they say and compare that to the standards. I had posted this a while back in another thread, but it's fairly relevant to what you are looking for here. Lastly, keep a positive attitude! I know it may feel like a shitty hand dealt to you that was out of your control, but you can take some of that control back by being proactive (as you already are) in learning what needs to be done to obtain the best job in the world. Good luck!!